Cancer New Moon

Cancer New Moon - Optimistic Growth

"I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with."

— Sonia Sotomayor

We are inspired by a great deal of optimism this week. Tuesday's Cancer New Moon (7:52 PM PDT 7° Cancer) is tightly square Jupiter, which stirs powerful confidence and strong beliefs. But of course, the confidence and optimism must be grounded with clear vision and self-discipline. Jupiter in Aries encourages us to propel ourselves — and our vision — into the world with energy and enthusiasm. However, the New Moon's Cancer influence shows our vulnerability to skepticism, misunderstanding, and emotional distractions. We may find ourselves aggressively and impulsively pushing forward with determination but then suddenly retreating into isolation and moody dissolution. Interactions with others may seem disappointing and their input may only seem to sidetrack us from our overriding, unique, individual sense of purpose and mission. The key lesson of this week is to learn how to maintain our individual integrity while also maintaining sold connections with the world around us — despite what may seem like only distraction and limitation. The emotional intensity is building all week and culminates with a potent Mars-Pluto square on Friday. Mars in Aries emphasizes the confidence of the New Moon's energy but Pluto may seem to offer only powerful obstacles, limitations, and roadblocks. There is certainly some potential for explosions of self-righteous destructiveness. Over the past few months we have been encouraged to clear away blind spots that leave us vulnerable to unrealistic optimism and expectation. Our degree of success in truing up our perspective will be apparent as we move through this week. Frustration that leads to martyrdom will only distract us from the tremendous potential for accomplishment that is offered. The Cancer instinct to acquire can lead us to seek new information which will help us to plan our moves and strategies with new determination. If we can channel the intense emotional intensity and passion into transformative action and inspired reforms, we will begin to see a new framework emerging from our efforts that can support our unique, individual purpose. We are going to need to allow our Big Picture vision to be tamed by our own 'real world' understanding and self-discipline. The key is to avoid burning bridges by shutting down the conversation entirely and retreating into isolation, frustration, and discouragement.

Sunday's 'light' conversations and superficial interactions may be obscuring ulterior motives or misleading information. We should carefully examine the casual banter and distractions to be sure there isn't more to be understood. Monday brings a happy dose of self-discipline and insight that seems to provide the seeds for important restructuring. However, we may not be completely comfortable with the messages we are hearing from others. Tuesday's Cancer New Moon produces significant self-confidence but we need to be sure we aren't being overly optimistic or letting our expectations build too high. We may be inclined to 'swim against the tide' on Wednesday, no matter the risks or costs. Patience and compassion will do far more to advance our individual cause than aggressive independence. The strong emotional imperatives on Thursday may encourage us to burn bridges and shut down all input. However, if we can ignore the 'sharp elbows' that others are throwing, we have the chance to unearth new and important bits of information that will help us to advance our individual cause. Friday's Mars-Pluto square produces significant emotional intensity, which may bring transformational reforms or destructive self-righteousness. On Saturday, self-discipline will help us understand our need to recognize and accept our limitations. Uncertainty, distraction, and limitation will always be part of any process that we seek to undertake. Steady effort is rewarded.